Midge Meister

I will third the opinion of Arkansas. I have had amazing days on the White River. You could do the trip rather inexpensive. Also, with the lake levels low the wade fishing has been more accessible this year. The Bull Shoal Dam State Park is rather nice this time of year and inexpensive to stay. Plus Gaston's is down the road and they have a good breakfast buffet. I fished Shenandoah National Park this spring and caught some native brook trout in the mountains a personal goal of mine. If small native fish are your thing I would go there. There are places that offer brown and rainbow fishing in the area but I do not know much about them as I was after the Brook trout. I did have fun fishing there but it was a lot of hiking with the fishing. Light rods and tippets with size 18 being the biggest fly you will probably throw.

I really like the look of this fly. I am tying a few up soon for my next trip to the river.

I started with a kit vise inside of six months went to a peak, then to Renzetti Presentation 2000, then to a Dyna king professional. I think I have a problem. I have bought all of these vises inside of 2 years of tying and enjoy tying on all of them. If you look on the forum or ebay you can find some good deals. If I had to do it again I do not know if I would change a thing it has and still is a fun experience learning the trade. When I started I was unsure of my commitment level. I started tying just to have flies for when I arrived to fish and not have to wait on the fly shop to open. I needed a lot of flies because I was loosing a lot of them due to my over zealousness of setting the hook on 5x tippet. I use to fish bass tournaments so I was accustomed to setting the hook like my life depended on it. Plus I thought I would save some money (I was wrong). What I have found is that I really enjoy tying. I find that tying helps me get that much more excited for my fishing trips. Plus when I caught my first fish on the crappiest impersonation of a pheasant tail nymph I new I was hooked. You may want to start with a cheap vise. Good luck on your future endeavor let us know how it goes.

Really enjoy your soft hackle patterns that you tie.

I have fished there a couple of times last year and fish the White river in Arkansas a lot. I have done well on midges and scuds. I will be fishing up there the first of March. There is a couple of fly shops near the damn that have always been super helpful with flies and locations to fish.

I bought a peak and have enjoyed tying on it. My only complaint is that it can develope rust on the jaws in a humid environment. I add a light coating of gun oil every so often to keep the rust from appearing. Other than that the vise is well built and very fun to tie on.